A very happy Carlos Sainz Jr. declared his Monaco qualifying lap "the most enjoyable of the whole season" after finishing the session sixth quickest – less than a second adrift of Kimi Räikkönen's pole position effort..
Sainz will start from the third row in sixth place, behind Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez.
"Wow. Just wow! I feel so good, what a lap," Sainz said after the session. "This is definitely the most enjoyable lap in qualifying of the whole season – the one where you’re on the limit the most, the one that gives you the biggest adrenaline rush, the highest heartbeat…
"To qualify P6 at such a track is just an amazing result! It’s something that we absolutely deserve after a very complete weekend, building it up until this afternoon’s qualifying.
"I must say that in Q1 I was a bit surprised with the pace of the midfield, as they all suddenly caught us up and we therefore had to start putting in fast laps from the very start – something I don’t like to do here in Monaco, I prefer to build it up little by little."
He added: "Then in Q3, I was able to put the best lap of the weekend together and I’m a very happy man! I can still feel the adrenaline!"
The Spaniard is confident of a good result on Sunday pending a good start to the Monaco GP.
"Regarding tomorrow, I’m confident we can have a good race – we are fast in both long and short runs so we just need to make sure we get everything right at the start, lead the midfield and try and attack when possible! I will enjoy a good dinner tonight!”
Team-mate Daniil Kvyat was 11th quickest, but will start ninth when McLaren's Jenson Button and Stoffel Vandoorne serve their grid penalties.
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